E3 2002: Unreal Tournament 2003

It's almost done, but there's so much you still don't know about...until now.

By Tal Blevins

You would think that after seeing Unreal Tournament 2003 two months ago, there wouldn't be much new to see. Well, you would be thinking wrong, then.

A lot of the features we saw in the Unreal technology demo a few months ago at GDC are now in the game, like the impressive rag doll technology that dynamically buckles and spins your opponents' body (or yours) when you take a big hit. As simple as it sounds, this really adds a lot to the game as every death is unique, and you're not just stuck seeing the same death animation over and over.

The guys at Digital Extremes also showed us one of the new weapons in the game: the Ion Cannon. Unlike the other weapons in the game, you don't actually wield the Ion Cannon itself -- it's a satellite that floats above the playfield and shoots an Ion beam that damages everything in a wide radius. And if your desired target is close to the center of the beam when it strikes, it will burn the flesh off the model, leaving only a burnt skeleton, which also follows the rag doll physics model as it crumples to the ground. Sounds great, huh? Well, there are a few drawbacks. To activate the Ion Cannon you have to focus your targeting beam on a fixed point for two seconds or so. This leaves you open to attack if you don't watch your back. Also, since the beam is fired from high above, you can only use the weapon in outdoor areas. Hey, you can't have it all.

On another up note, after fan uproar (and I like to think a little bitching by yours truly), the team decided to put the BioRifle (aka the goop gun) back in the game. Yes, yes...the goop gun was extremely under-used by most UT players, but I personally loved the gun, and I could take out most of the scrubs at the IGN offices with the explosive, corrosive green jelly. They've even made the BioRifle a bit more powerful as you can shoot it farther and it explodes quicker than in the original. You can also build up your goop pile now if you constantly shoot it in the same spot, so I'm really looking forward to gooping up some people good. Take that, Dan! Eat some goop, Steve! Shove it up your brown eye, Ivan! Oh yeah, it's been a long day.

We saw some new levels today, like some of the Egyptian areas and the outdoor level where we got to use the Ion Cannon. As you can tell from the screenshots, the game looks absolutely beautiful, full of color and awesome lighting effects. They also showed us one of the new game types, Double Damnation, which works a lot like Damnation except you have to hold the area for 10 seconds to score.

Even with all this new stuff to see, we weren't yet done seeing all the recently added features. The translocator camera is now in the game, and you can use it not only to scout an area before you actually teleport, but you can also shoot it high in the air and look through the camera view to survey the land from above. Plus if you're sneaky enough to get it in a place where they can't spot it, you can also use the translocator to spy on enemy bases. But like the Ion Cannon, this plan isn't foolproof as the camera fades out if there are no players near.

So there you go, that's the new stuff we saw today, and we were impressed to say the least. At this point the game is pretty much finished, and they told us that they just had to put a final polish on it before it ships in a couple of months. We can't wait!